Monday, September 14, 2015

Goodreads: Laura DiStefano has flunked out of the University of Massachusetts just as the counterculture reaches its peak in the 1970s, and is living back home with her parents and her sister. She can’t deny the embarrassment that she has failed and the fact that she’s now trapped in the blue-collar town she so hoped to escape.

But Laura soon finds that her sister, a fierce survivor of a childhood attack who has rather foolishly gotten pregnant, needs her help, and she unexpectedly finds love with a local guy. Even though the school offers to reinstate her scholarship, leaving home again suddenly gets harder. She’s torn between dreams of a new countercultural life and the undertow of a dysfunctional family. As the conflicts in her life threaten to drag her under, Laura grows agoraphobic. How can she reconcile her divided loyalties and find her genuine life?Kritters Thoughts: A gritty novel about a woman coming into the 1970s and seeing a new culture emerge. Laura flunks out of school and returns home to the small town that she had wanted to escape, but unfortunately school wasn't the way out so she has to find a new way out.This book felt real like a documentary and at a few moments it was hard to read because it felt so real. With the 1970s this book focused on the sex, drugs and rock n roll that was coming out and I felt as though the author wanted to really focus on how it was affecting a small town. This book isn't for the faint of heart and even at times I had to pause and read something with a little heart and a little lighter. If you enjoy documentaries or books that feel just so real then this one would be great for you.Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a rowDisclosure of Material Connection: I received one copy of this book free of charge from Smith Publicity. I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.